The combined hammer award was initiated in 2003 by Bobby Dodd for Mjolnir Hammers Ltd. at the Springfield, IL, Masters World Championships. The winner was determined by comparing each competitor's results in both hammers to the masters world records for that competitor's age class then summing up those comparisons. The athlete with the best result wins. The award is designed to be "winable" by an athlete in any of the age classes. By comparing throws to age class records, the old guys can compete evenly with the youngsters.
In 2005 at the New Hampshire MWC, I initiated the combined distances trophy using the same format for the weight-for-distance results. In 2006 at the Inverness, Scotland, MWC, I initiated the combined stones trophy on the same format.
A couple of years ago at the urging of Wild Bill Butler, the Caledonian Club of Sacramento, CA, and the Scottish American Athletics Association (SAAA) both donated funds to create permanent trophies for the Masters World Championships. I am now using those funds to create the combined distances and stones trophies. Bobby Dodd and Hevy Gear are funding the hammers trophy. These trophies will be awarded to the winner at each MWC and that athlete will get to keep the trophy for the year. Each year the winner's name and year will be engraved on a small plate which will be added to the back of the trophy for a cumulative record of winners.
Here the trophies are being awarded by the Provost of Inverness Jimmie Gray and Bill Scruggs. Kristine Stuteville of California broke both Women's 50+ hammer records to win the Hevy Gear - Bill Anderson - Combined Hammer trophy. She also broke both distance world records to win the Caledonian Club of Sacramento - John Ross - Combined Distance Award. Ray Oster of Nevada broke both Mens 65-69 stone records to win the Scottish American Athletic Association - a' Ghaidhealtachd - Combined Stone Award. It should be noted that Neil McKenzie of Scotland also broke both hammer world records in the Men's 40-49 U200 class but not by the margins by which Kris exceeded them and so finished a close second for the hammer trophy. Ray Oster was close to but not beyond the distance records in his class and finished second in the distance trophy. Ruth Welding (Illinois) finished second in the combined stones trophy. Unfortunately, by a mistake in the original tabulation, Ray was awarded the distance trophy instead of Kris. So, the record has now been set straight.
Jim Spalding - Hevy Gear John Ross Distance Trophy
Bill Leffler - a' Ghaidhealtachd Stone Trophy
Harvey Barkauskas - Bill Anderson Hammer Trophy
Each trophy winner received a bottle of 12-Year-Old Glenlivet
"Ancient Master Targe" ©2006
Cari Buziak
Aon Celtic Art, www.aon-celtic.com
The copyrighted Celtic design from Cari Buziak features an outer braided knot and an inner geometric palm type scyth shape that is very "early Celtic". The decorative Celtic knots on the center plate were also designed by Cari.
Two of the trophies are named in honor of Hall of Fame masters athletes. The hammers trophy illustrated above is named in honor of Bill Anderson of Scotland who holds several hammer world records. The distances trophy is named for John Ross of California. The stones trophy will be named in Gaelic for the Highlands..
Anyone interested in Celtic art or designs for any kind of jewelry, clothing, plaques, mugs/tankards, plates, etc., should contact Cari Buziak at http://www.aon-celtic.com . Check out her website, she has done some incredible designs. We owe her a great debt for the design work she provided to make these trophies look really great. Please recommend her work to anyone you know who might have any need for Celtic art.
After Angus Billy first conceived of the Targe design for the trophies, several people played an important role in bringing the conception to reality.
First the 18 inch diameter wooden disks were laminated, cut
round and finished
by masters athlete Alan Cash at Walkenshaw Fixtures in Joplin, Missouri.
Then Angus routed the edges round, final sanded and stained
them.
They were then coated with a verathane coating for protection.
While all this was being done, Cari Buziak was busy completing
the Celtic
design for the Highland Targes and the Trophy House in Joplin, MO, was
engraving the center plates using black coated brass plates which,
when
engraved, revealed brass lettering.
Once the Celtic design was finished by Cari, it was ready to be
transferred to
wooden Targes.
For this process, Chris Kaminski the Budweiser wholesaler in
Steamboat Springs, CO,
made three exact size printouts of the design on their large format printer.
This printout was then taped to the Targe and Angus, using a
sharpened ice pick,
tapped a starter hole in the center of each of the 1,600 brad positions.
Then the job of putting in the brads began.
Here Angus is tapping in one of the more than 1,600 brass plated
brads
from Heico Fasteners, Inc., that decorate each trophy.
Once all the brads were in place, the final task was to glue the
center
plate in place. This done, the winners' name plates were screwed onto the
back of each trophy to complete the job.